Will dolphins and other marine mammals ever return to the UK?

I realise this is probably quite a "controversial" thread, depending on your view but it is always an intersting topic to debate. If any person feels the need to insult anyone else, please do us all a favour and leave. This is just meant to be a discussion of ideas, not a campaign of strong wills.

Just so you know, I am a little undecided as to whether I believe all types of cetacean keeping is "correct". There are some places which I am strongly against (google lolita miami seaquarium for an example) but others, like Seaworld who am I more at ease with. I basically believe that under the right circumstances cetaceans can be happy in captivity, but this is not always achieved.

The UK's only captive marine mammals (so far as I know) only consists seals and sea lions, which prove as popular attractions at many zoos (including many shows). The keeping of Cetaceans in the UK is not banned, but is restricted (like any other kind of animal keeping) to compliance with various minimum requirements.

>Do you think that dolphins and other marine mammals will return to UK zoos, in the near future or ever?
If so, how? In the form of performing displays? or rescue facilities? Or some other way?

Maybe you don't want to see them, and would rather they weren't kept in captivity anywhere in the world. Do you think we can live without captive cetacean research/therapy? (and do you hold this view of any other animals, e.g. polar bears or primates?) Also bear in mind that foreign dolphinariums are popular tourist attractions for many British holidaymakers.

Personally, I don't think that they ever will return, or atleast not in the lifetime of the people who remember the old british dolphinariums. It's a shame, because many cetaceans are native to our waters and are not catered for by any rescue facilities unlike many or all of our other native wildlife. The question of whether they need to be trained and perform in captivity if they were to be kept in a zoo comes to mind, but it's so diffcult to say.


It has become "politically correct" to disagree with cetacean captivity in the UK, yet many of us will happily visit dolphinariums elsewhere. Do you think this is a hypocritical or a sensible view? Or maybe it's just the fact that British people always seem to need something to campaign about.

 

I took the liberty to vote, even if I'm not British, as an admirer of marine mammals and supporter of good zoos and aquaria keeping whatever they are confident with keeping properly. I will watch this thread with great interest.

 

I feel the biggest problem with the keeping of dolphins & Orca's in the UK has been in the past almost all the exhibits keeping them have been far to small and cramped which does not paint such a good picture to the zoo going public, Whipsnades water mammal house comes to mind as one of them and there were much much worse, while classed as modern at the time (I visited it just after it opened) it was far to small for four dolphins a mere teaspoon for them to live in.

If the UK wants to house such animals again they should maybe look at some of the major parks overseas such as the seaworlds in the USA or even some of the European parks. Penny pinching exhibits are not going to work anymore so if they really want to keep them then give them large first class facilities or just dont keep them.

 

Yes-if you can find a way to get rid of your local anti-dolphinarium lobby.

PS: When you find a good solution, please let the other countries know...

 

can i ask something

it is GENERALY considered a fact that the last dolphins in the UK left Flamingo land in '93
BUT
if you include the British Overseas territories, Hong Kong was one until '97. It has a marine mammal park & and it keeps Dolphins, so when it was under British Control, would those Dolphins count As the Last in the UK???

 

Nope as Hong kong is not IN the UK

 

yes but Hong Kong was Part of the UK until '97

 

Then why ASK

 

What are the (lets say 5) zoos that last held dolphins in the UK?

Number 1 would be Flamingo in 1993 and i guess number 2 would be Windsor Safari Park in 1991/92 (and was also the last place to keep orcas).

 

no Brighton would be 2 in '93 (but before flamingo)

and i was asking to see if it counted

 

Hong Kong was part of the commonwealth, not the UK. The UK is short for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain means England, Scotland and Wales.
Therefore Hong Kong is not the UK and never has been.
Back to the topic, I don't really like any of the dolphin tanks I have seen anywhere in the world. I would so love to see a huge rocky planted tank with three or four individuals. Very natural, no tricks, but loads of enrichment in the form of live food. Love to see dolphins hunting!
Apart from that, Porpoises would be very interesting in a rescue rehab setting, and proper british animals too, maybe at the national seal sanctuary? I can see that oe happening in the next 10 years.

 

I would prefer to see manatees in UK zoos rather than dophins or whales.

 

I suppose you should never say never. But I think it's highly unlikely: the investment required would be so large and the public response would be so uncertain that I can't see it as a viable project.
I think the future is whale watching, both land-based in one or two special places and boat trips - although my first trip in the Firth of Lorn last summer was very rough, very wet and I was lucky to glimpse two porpoises.

Alan

 

That kind of exhibit, especially with the hunting would be a revelation for the captive cetacean industry! Would be fantastic if we could be responsible for such a world's first. Tell you what, if I win the lottery we'll get to work!

Re: the rest of the thread.
I am really surprised at the responses! I guess this is a biased website, but still it proves that not everyone is so swayed by the media/strict animal rights campaigners and that there is more to consider than just the "flipper" aspects of the industry.
Manatees would be great as they are under threat in many places! The don't require as much space and as far as I know, have never been kept in the UK before.

The national seal sanctuary would be the kind of place rehab operations could take place. They currently don't really have any pools big enough to continually house fully grown cetaceans (as in, unless there was an odd case) but it's always a possibility.

I think the British public need to be re-educated about cetacean care. If only someone had the money to make a world's-first type of exhibit! I am also fed up with how all the aquariums (namely the sealife ones) all contain exactly the same species across the country! (The sealife centre in Brighton also has a misleading sign that states that it is illegal to keep dolphins in the UK.)

 

Just to add a couple of years ago (-ish) there were rumours that an aquarium had asked for planning permission to put in a dolphin exhibit. I don't know where it was or whether it was legit, does anyone know?

 

I personally would also love to see manatees in the UK.

 

I've just had a google and apparently Bristol Zoo have manatees on their species list for their new park- the National Wildlife Conservation Park. Very Interesting! [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wildlife_Conservation_Park]National Wildlife Conservation Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

I think that some enterprising individual will notice a gap in the market and a facility with captive cetaceans will be built here in the future. The question in my mind is how long will that take but I have no doubt they will be kept.

 

I too think that manatees are much more amenable to captivity than cetaceans.

I do NOT think that cetaceans can be kept very satisfactorily in captivity. Yes, they can be trained and offered other forms of behavioural enrichment but, to my mind, the space that they need is just prohibitive.

Why do so many ZooChatters appear to concentrate on wanting to see animals in captivity (good zoos, of course) where there are good photographic opportunities (so many posts on this site seem to be about photography, and not the animals' ability to hide away). EcoTourism is growing rapidly and there are already opportunities to see wild dolphins and, occasionally, orcas and true whales around the UK coast. These experience are much more magical than any encounter in a dolphinarium, for example.

I am zoo and wildlife veterinarian and I whole-heartedly believe in the role of zoos - I just don't think that all species are suitable for captivity.

 

Please may I urge everyone who is enjoying this post to rent / download / watch the recent Oscar-winning documentary, 'The Cove'. It is a very well made documentary focusing on the capture and slaughter of over 20 000 wild dolphins in a small cove off the Japanese coast, annually. The primary aim of these capture exercises is to sell dolphins to captivity, where they fetch around US$150 000 each. Over 90% of the world's captive dolphinarium, 'swim with a dolphin', zoo dolphins are thought to have been wild caught from that one little cove in Japan. The remaining, unsold, dolphins are all slaughtered and the meat, almost a by-product and full of mercury, goes into the human food place.

I'm not an extremist, nor a sensationalist, but it is a very interesting and thought-provoking film. The man trying to stop this massacre each year is Mr. O'Barry, none other than the man who caught and trained the original 'Flipper', for the tv series, before he realised how unsuitable cetaceans are for captivity. Please, let me know what you think. Best wishes.